Chapter 4: The Second Hour- Another Door Opens

Inuyasha watched from his castle as Kagome sat in the dark after meeting Yūra of the Demon Hair. The demons in his throne room looked at him expectantly.

"She's in the Oubliette now…" he said to himself.

Inuyasha watched the girl in the jewel, a frown on his face. "I should've known that she would never give up…"

Kagome sighed, still sitting on her bottom after landing in this dark, dank place. "Should've chosen up," she muttered. "Now what am I going to do?"

The sound of footsteps approaching reached her ears. Standing up (and rubbing her sore bottom), Kagome called, "Who's there?"

A small door opened, and light poured in from a lantern held by a small figure. Kagome recognized the small fox ears and tail almost immediately.

"Shippo!" she cried, overjoyed that he was here.

"Well, I knew you were going to get into trouble," he said matter-of-factly. "So I've come to help you. I was worried that you were mad at me so I came to see what was wrong," the sad look on his face almost broke her heart.

"Oh, Shippo," she said softly. "I wasn't angry at you when I ran off like that. But you see… Inuyasha has my little brother in his castle and he's giving me 13 hours to rescue him. Although…" she added as she thought about it, "I think I have less than 12 hours now."

"He is?" asked Shippo in amazement. "I know that Inuyasha can be a real jerk sometimes… but I didn't think that he would ever do anything like this."

"I'm afraid so…" said Kagome. "I know that this is my fault but still… he didn't have to do all this." A thought suddenly came to her. "You know? I don't think I ever told you my name? I'm Kagome. And thank you for coming here."

"Kagome?" repeated Shippo. "That's pretty."

She smiled at him before looking around her, "Where are we?"

"Wondering when you were going to ask. This is an Oubliette. The Spirit World's full of them."

"Oh," said Kagome, nodding as if she understood. In truth, she had no idea what an Oubliette was.

Shippo sighed, obviously seeing through her. "You don't even know what it is, do you?"

"Do you?" Kagome countered, not really wanting her lack of knowledge of the Spirit World to be made fun of.

"Yeah, it's a place you put people, to forget about them. I know a short-cut out of here and back to earth."

"No! I've come too far… I'm not giving up now!" Kagome crossed her arms. "I think I'm doing ok."

"Of course you are," said Shippo, not really listening, but looking for something on the ground. "But it gets a lot worse from here on in."

She sat on a large rock and asked, "Why are you so worried about me?"

Shippo paused, looking at Kagome over his shoulder. "Uh, what?"

"Why would you come all this way, when you could just leave me here and go about your merry business?"

"Well… I was worried that you were angry at me," he said, a little defensively. "And you are the nicest person that I've met here and…" he trailed off. Kagome gave him a gentle smile, and before she knew it, she was giving him a hug. "Thank you," she said again.

Shippo blushed and turned his head away. "Shipp?" Kagome asked quietly. "I know that it's a lot to ask, but can you help me find my brother?"

Shippo shifted uncomfortably and Kagome could see that he was scared of helping her. She knew that he was scared what would happen to him if Inuyasha found out. But she also knew that Shippo was a little kid. And all little kids liked toys, right? Fishing through her jean pocket, beneath her dress, Kagome eyed what she had. A marble, a couple of pennies, an elastic band, a pink plastic bracelet, and some pieces of candy, those should work.

"You like candy, don't you?" she asked, holding up the small piece of candy. Shippo's mouth watered.

"Why?" he asked, trying to sound like he didn't care, but sounding a little desperate instead.

Kagome's mind was whirring. "If you help me get to the castle, I'll give you this." She smiled at his expression. "And when I get home I'll get you a whole sack of candy."

Shippo bit his lip, and then spoke up. "Tell you what. You give me the candy, and I'll show you the way out of the Spirit World."

"You were going to do that anyways!"

"Well…"

Kagome sighed, trying to think of something else. "Then take me as far as you can, and I'll do the rest on my own."

"What is that, anyways?"

"Chocolate."

"Oooh…" Shippo seemed torn. He looked around the room as if making sure that no one was watching and said, "I don't want to get into trouble… but I want to help you. So I'll take you as far as I can. Then you're on your own, ok?" He narrowed his eyes at her, as if that could make her tell the truth.

"OK," said Kagome, giving him the chocolate.

Shippo didn't waste any time in devouring the candy. "Yummy…" Shippo murmured with a happy look on his face. Finally, he grabbed hold of Kagome's hand and led her to the opposite wall and knocked as if it were a door. As soon as he finished knocking, the form a door had appeared, and he reached up to push. Kagome had expected for it to lead to a larger part of the Oubliette. But to her surprised, it led instead, to a series of long, dim halls, lit up by a few tiny torches along the dark, stone walls.

"Here we go!" Shippo said excitedly, gesturing for Kagome to follow him. "Come on, then."

The halls were cold and damp, and Kagome shivered slightly. She wouldn't want to get lost down here. Shippo seemed to know his way, and for that Kagome was glad. They came to a fork in the path, and found themselves face to face with a statue of a Japanese warrior that appeared to be made of clay. Its mouth slid open with a rasping sound that filled the corridors.

"Leave now!"

Kagome jumped back from them in horror. All of a sudden, a few more clay soldiers had appeared and said, "You are heading in the wrong direction!"

"If you value your lives then turn around!"

"You might want to think twice about the path you walk! Beware!"

By now, Kagome was scared. What was this horrible danger that these clay soldiers were warning her about? And why was Shippo leading her straight there?

"Soon you will pay with your lives!"

Sensing her unease, Shippo turned to face her. "Just ignore them. They're false alarms. Their job is to scare people into going the wrong way. You'll get them a lot, especially when you're on the right track."

A nearby clay solider heard Shippo's comment. "Oh no, you're not!"

"Be quiet!"

"Sorry, just doing my job."

"Well, we don't need to hear it!"

"Beware, for the path you take will lead to certain death!"

Shippo rolled his eyes. "Yeah right."

Once Kagome calmed down, she also started to ignore the soldiers and continued to follow Shippo for about 25 minutes. Just when she was about to ask how much longer they had to go, she looked down a dark corridor. That's when she spotted another familiar figure, only it was one that she didn't really want to see. "Uh oh," she said.

Shippo stopped walking and turned to look at her in confusion. "What is it Kagome?" he looked where she was looking and gone pale, "Uh oh," he repeated.

It was Inuyasha.

Inuyasha smiled a toothy, smug grin that exposed both his fangs. "What do we have here?"

"N-nothing," stuttered Shippo. "Your majesty! What a nice surprise."

"Hello Shippy."

"Shippo," the little demon corrected, embarrassed.

"Shippo, why are you helping her?"

Shippo coughed. "H-helping? In what sense?"

Inuyasha bent over, his amber eyes glowing dangerously. "In the sense of leading her towards the castle, runt."

"Erm, well, I…I… I don't know what you're talking about. I was actually leading her back to earth."

"What?" said Kagome, looking down at Shippo in shock.

'Nice going Shippo,' he thought, mentally smacking himself on the head. Now he had two people mad at him. Two big people, who could easily take him down; one that scared him to death, and one that he like and didn't want her to hate him. "I told her I would help her, when actually…"

"What's that all over your mouth?" Inuyasha interrupted, looking at the chocolate that he had smeared around Shippo's lips. Shippo looked at him and gulped.

"Ah, this? I suppose it must have been mud when I tripped and fell and…"

Growling, Inuyasha whispered, "If I thought for one minute you were planning to betray me, I'd dump you off in the Forest of Sorrow."

Shippo whimpered. "Not the Forest of Sorrow…"

Satisfied that Shippo was now too scared to even think about helping Kagome on, he stood up and turned to said girl, smirk back in place.

"And you, girl, how are you enjoying my Spirit World? Give up yet?"

Refusing to give in, Kagome stood up straighter and looked Inuyasha right in the eye. "Why are you doing this? I just want my brother back! Just give him to me and I'll leave!"

He smiled again… she didn't like the way that he was looking at her… it wasn't because he was the king of demons… it was because that smile seemed so… familiar. As if she had seen this man somewhere before… but that was impossible… wasn't it? She never met this man before all this started right? She could feel her heart beating in her chest… but she couldn't tell if it was from fear… or something else.

When he didn't answer, Kagome then said, "I'm doing just fine in your sick, twisted world."

Shippo groaned from beside her, covering his face with his tiny hands. This wasn't going to be good.

"Oh really?" Inuyasha snarled, his temper flared up. "How about upping the stakes then? If you don't find your brother in time… then you will live in my castle, with me, for the rest of time.

Kagome's eyes widened in horror, "That's not fair!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Ever hear the saying 'Life isn't fair?' This isn't fair but that's how it is!"

Then he disappeared, but not before snapping his fingers in the direction Kagome and Shippo were headed to. There were a whole gang of long, snake and wormlike creatures that filled up the whole corridor and it were coming straight towards them.

"Oh no!" cried Shippo jumping up into Kagome's arms.

"What are they?" Kagome yelled, holding onto her friend tightly as she stared in horror at the creatures that were racing towards them.

"Demons! Run!"

Kagome didn't need to be told twice. She took off down the corridor, carrying Shippo. The demons where dangerously coming closer and she could feel panic rising up in her chest, pushing her on further. Up ahead was a gate, she slammed into it, only to find it locked and bolted and with no way through.

"Now what do we do?" Shippo squealed, pressed up against the steel gate in fear. Chewing her lip, Kagome looked around for any other way out. She saw that on her right, parts of the stone wall had been damaged, and covered with wooden planks.

"Shippo, help me!" she cried, letting go of Shippo and pushing the wooden boards. They creaked under the pressure, but still didn't budge, and the demons were getting closer.

"Kagome, stand back!" yelled Shippo, before pointing both hands at the boards and crying, "Foxfire!"

A blue flame erupted from his hands, effectively knocking down the boards and revealing a ladder, and a way out. Grabbing Shippo's paw, Kagome jumped into the opening, just as the demons passed them and charged passed the gate.

Kagome and Shippo held onto each other for a long time, trying to get their terrified hearts to return to a normal pace. "That was a little too close for comfort..." panted Kagome, getting up from the floor and wiping her hands on her dress. Shippo scowled at her.

"You just had to mouth off, didn't you? Do you have any idea what you were getting us into by saying that?"

Kagome pouted, saying nothing.

"Well, follow me anyways." He started to climb up the ladder.

"Why should I?" Kagome finally spoke up, crossing her arms in true Kagome-fashion. "I can't trust you. You said you were going to lead me back to earth."

Still, climbing, Shippo looked back down at her. "I wasn't. I told him that so he wouldn't be suspicious. Try to see my point of view. I'm a little kid, and Inuyasha scares me. And I sure don't want to be thrown into the Forest of Sorrow."

"How can I believe you?"

"Kagome, I want to help you. But I don't want to get into trouble and then thrown into the Forest of Sorrow. Besides, do you have any other choice?"

He had a point. Again. With a heavy sigh, Kagome followed Shippo's small form as he climbed up the ladder. They eventually reached the top, which proved to be a large urn sitting atop a table.

'How weird,' thought Kagome, but not surprised. The scenery now had completely changed. She and Shippo were both standing in a large garden with tall hedges, and trees that created many different paths; almost like a maze. They both jumped out, and Shippo lead the way down a particular path while holding onto Kagome's hand. They had walked on for a long period of time, and Kagome knew that she had less than 11 hours before she and Sota became trapped in this world forever. Shippo hummed a random tune as they walked, and Kagome was lost in her thoughts. Mostly about Inuyasha.

'What's his problem, anyways?' she thought bitterly to herself. 'Trying to stop me from saving my brother… and if I fail… I'll be forced to live with Inuyasha in his castle for the rest of my life… stupid Demon King… but… why does he seem so familiar to me? I know that I've met him somewhere before…?'

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a furious yell and a strong wind from the other side of a bush.

"Wind Tunnel!"

Kagome blinked and looked down at Shippo, who blinked and looked back up at her. Simultaneously, they both looked in the direction the yell had come from, and peeked around the bush to see what was happening.

Inuyasha was sitting in his chambers again, arms crossed, and looking more like an angry child than a King. His thoughts were littered with the arrival of that girl, and the onslaught of emotions that came with it.

Stupid girl. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Stupid Inuyasha.

Every time he saw her, he felt this weird over-protectiveness. Damn, he even felt jealous of the runt. He knew that Shippy, was it Shippy? Maybe it was Shoppo... no matter. The little fox was leading Kagome to the castle, and he knew that he shouldn't let it happen. But part of him wanted it to happen. He didn't want anything to interrupt him from watching the girl. Not even the annoying houseguest that just arrived a few seconds ago.

"Come on in Sess." Inuyasha shouted over at a door before he even heard a knock. His brother, Lord Sesshomaru had come in, and was walking towards him as calmly as he always did. He looked exactly the same as that last time he saw his brother. His long, white hair swayed gently, a blue crescent moon on his forehead, two red markings on each cheek and on the sides of his wrists as well as one red stripe on each of his eye lids.

Sesshomaru's armor includes a spiked pauldron that covers his left shoulder attached to the upper section of his cuirass. His Kimono was mostly white with a red honeycomb and flower crest at the collar and sleeves that matched the flat pointed ankle-high boots. And fur on his right shoulder that cascaded down like a tail.

"You still watching her?" Sesshomaru asked him in that cold and calm voice.

"Yes." Inuyasha growled at him.

"Look little brother, I don't know why you're pissed at me, I mean it's not my fault you took the little boy or that you can't see what's been right in front of you all along."

"And just what the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Inuyasha yelled as he spun around to glare at his older brother.

"It means the girl you moron." Sesshomaru responded without even blinking. Inuyasha just snorted and looked away. Sesshomaru turned away with an emotionless expression, "You know I'm right." He then left an angry Inuyasha behind him.

"Shut up Sesshomaru!" he barked after him. "Who asked you?"

Sesshomaru stopped, turned around for a brief moment and said, "If you don't tell her the truth… of the connection between the two of you… and what had happened in the past… then I will."

He left without another word.

Inuyasha merely cracked his fingers angrily as if longed to punch Sesshomaru. (Which he wanted to) But he knew that he had to hold back. He didn't want that damn Sessy to go and tell Kagome the truth… he would have to be patient. One of the many things that he was bad at.

So he turned his attention back towards the jewel and watched as Kagome and the fox looked cautiously around a bush for some reason. As if they were expecting to see someone there.

He shut his eyes for a moment, and a little girl with chocolate brown eyes and a shining smile appeared in his memories for a brief moment. 'She really doesn't remember…'

He always thought that falling in love is supposed to be one of the hardest things you ever do in life...but it isn't. In fact it's simple, so simple that you may never notice you're in love until it's too late... this wasn't supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to fall in love with her.

(Please tell me what you think of this story!)